I work for a Japanese company and am thinking this ``pending approval`` is mostly a formality related to a Japanese internal contract called a ringy or lingy (not sure of spelling or pronunciation for obvious reasons). Many times board members might be away on business for example and cannot physically sign the document. They take these things very seriously I can tell you. I would disagree that the numbers would have to be ``huge`` for BOD signatures to be required. Anything of any significance (a company car for example) would require all board members to sign before official.